How incentives affect web-based survey response rates of athletic program donors

Donor-based programs make up a large portion of the funds generated by collegiate sport organisations. Methods of gathering data from this population are of great interest to market researchers and athletic administrators as they seek ways to increase donations and ticket sales. A web-based hybrid survey/experiment including 2051 donors to a collegiate athletic organisation investigated different incentive levels (none, low, medium and high) and incentive types (cash and non-cash prizes) on survey response rates. Results indicated that the inclusion of incentives did not increase survey response rate nor did value of incentive or incentive saliency. Respondents who were offered incentives, however, were quicker in providing the requested information than those respondents not offered incentives for their participation. Discussion details how audiences who provided financial backing to an organisation may perceive incentives as an improper use of donated monies.